Give us human interaction: 1 in 5 shoppers have shouted at a self-service checkout

Shoppers prefer the human touch rather than sophisticated retailer technology such as automated checkouts and AI, according to new findings.

A new survey from Gekko found that 77% of Brits said they want to speak to a human being rather than a self-service check-out or automated voice recording.

Over 80% claimed that the personal touch has disappeared from customer service in modern Britain with almost a third blaming an over-reliance on technology for this decline.
The study showed the average shopperbelieves they waste an average of£1.5 hours a month interacting with poorly functioning automated technology, only for a human to have to step in and help anyway.

The biggest customer service bugbear to emerge from the poll of shoppers was having to get someone to come and rectify a problem with the self-service checkout followed byringing customer services and dealing with a recorded voice, only to have repeat all the details to the person you end up talking to.

over 50% of Brits said they had ‘slammed the phone down in fury? during an automated call, as the system didnt recognise what they were saying.

Just over 45% said they have had their self-service checkout procedure halted so that a human shop assistant could progress it, which has led to a frustrated 18% shouting at a self-service checkout.